This yarn I’m about to spin started back in 2019 on a tour of Washington Island with Robert Cornell, general manager of Washington Island Electric Cooperative (WIEC). It was a delightful, jam-packed day; despite the island’s modest 35-square-mile footprint, there’s a whole lot to see. I took in all the beautiful shoreline views and peaceful wooded landscapes as Robert took me past the island institutions as well as a lavender farm, an authentic stave church (Stavkirk), a beach made up of smooth limestone rocks, a maritime museum, a nature center, Wisconsin’s oldest continually operating tavern, and a three-season fiber arts school.
About that school: It’s called Sievers School of Fiber Arts, and the main building, which houses the gift shop, is a former one-room schoolhouse that dates back to 1890. The campus also has two studios, a dormitory for students, and a cottage for visiting instructors. Students come here from across the country and even beyond to learn fiber arts from highly accomplished instructors, many of whom also arrive from far-flung areas just to teach a class. Surely, I marveled, these must be high-level classes to attract both students and teachers from coast to coast. Some indeed are, Robert told me, but he added that Sievers also has classes for beginners in every form of fiber arts imaginable.
Hmmmm.
Instructor Shawn Simmons, seated, demonstrates a stitch.
As is everything else on the island, the Sievers School of Fiber Arts is on WIEC lines. My mind was spinning with possibilities: Wouldn’t such a unique place make a great story for the magazine? And if so, wouldn’t it be best to experience a class firsthand before writing about it? That would mean a return trip to this magical island, “North of the Tension Line,” as it’s known to be, to learn a new skill. The whole idea sounded very appealing.
Just months later, however, a worldwide pandemic put a temporary hiatus on work trips. A later attempt to secure a spot at the school was thwarted when I learned the hard way that classes fill up exceedingly fast, and if you’re not ready to commit within days of the Sievers class schedule announcement in early February, you might end up on a waiting list. Depending on the class, you might even wait another year.
This past February, I was finally ready. By this time, I had already announced to my co-workers that my long and gratifying career with this organization would be winding down by year’s end. I had one last work-related bucket-list wish: To not just participate in and write about a class at Sievers School of Fiber Arts, but to share the experience with whoever of my work family was available to attend with me.
The Knit-wits
1. The four Knit-wits cross the “Tension Line” on the Washington Island Ferry on their way to the island for a weekend of knitting and crocheting at Sievers School of Fiber Arts.
2. Mary and Wendy practice chain stitching on the back deck after class.
3. Left to right: Dana Kelroy, WECN editor; Wendy Fassbind, director of education & events; Jennifer Taylor, executive and editorial assistant; and Mary Erickson, WECN associate editor, in the Sievers gift shop.
Joining me on this excursion was WECN Editor Dana Kelroy, Director of Education & Events Wendy Fassbind, and Executive and Editorial Assistant Jennifer Taylor. We signed up for a beginning knitting/crocheting class, held the weekend after Memorial Day. Of the four of us, only I had ever held a knitting needle before, and that was only once, three decades earlier in a futile attempt by my late mother-in-law to teach me the craft. We four were about as green as could be, and our self-appointed group nickname, the WECA Knit-wits, was aptly chosen.
That whole “North of the Tension Line” tagline, by the way, is also aptly chosen. We crossed that imaginary line as soon as we got on the Washington Island Ferry and began the brief trip across Death’s Door strait to the island. This passage earned its foreboding name from the treacherous waters that have caused many a shipwreck in this area, but on the day we crossed, it was downright heavenly. For me, this was officially a business trip, but as we motored away from the mainland it felt as if we were leaving work far behind.
Upon arrival, we checked in at the Sievers gift shop where we ogled at the beautiful handmade items for sale, created by Sievers students, and marveled at the vast selection of fibers, books, patterns, supplies, and tools. From there we were directed to the charming little Sophie Studio, where we were greeted by our instructor for the weekend, Shawn Simmons.
Shawn is a professor of communication design at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and a part-time Sievers employee, and she’s one of the most patient instructors around. She had her hands full with this class, as one of the first things we discovered is the title “Learn to knit” evidently means different things to different people. For us, it meant “learn from the very start because we’ve never knitted before and have no clue what we’re doing.” For a few others, it seemed to mean “learn to knit better than we already do, which is actually pretty darn good.”
Individual attention is a Sievers hallmark; here, instructor Shawn Simmons helps Dana out of a knot.
No matter though, Shawn was up to the challenge of working with a wide range of experience and abilities, and we discovered right away that at Sievers, there truly is no judgment and no hierarchy. Everyone—regardless of skill level or experience—is warmly welcomed and brought into the fold by teachers and classmates alike.
That feeling of acceptance was supplemented by the cozy atmosphere of our studio, triggering fond memories of childhood summer camp. The airy cabin’s big windows let in plenty of light along with pretty views of the woods just beyond, and the room’s décor featured fiber art creations as well as items reflecting the island’s natural history. There would be no cell phones buzzing with interruptions here, partly because cell service was spotty in the secluded studio, but mostly because the woodsy location and circular table arrangement set an intimate tone that made the urge to check messages or emails slip away of its own accord.
Sievers History
Sievers owner Ann Young welcomed us to class and shared a little of the school’s history. Sievers School of Fiber Arts, she explained, got its start in the early 1970s by Walter Schultz, who, together with his wife, Sophie, was a very accomplished weaver.
Walter had made a weaving loom for his wife and chose her maiden name to market it. He started selling plan sheets for building a loom and placed the first Sievers Loom print advertisement in McCall’s Needlework and Crafts magazine in 1974. That move led to about 50 orders in just the first four months, and the Sievers name became widely associated with weaving.
Ann Young, owner of Sievers School of Fiber Arts, with Mary.
Walter and Sophie also wrote a book together, “Learn How to Weave,” which inspired Walter to establish the Sievers School of Fine Arts in 1979, using the slogan “Happiness is in your hands and it keeps you young.”
The first year, classes were taught out of what is now the gift shop to 33 students. Today, Sievers offers about 40 classes a year to as many as 400 students. Class topics cover every type of fiber art, including weaving, spinning, knitting, crocheting, quilting, jewelry-making, basketry, carving, and paper arts.
Many students return year after year. There’s typically a waiting list for most classes, as the focus here is quality over quantity. The small teacher-to-student ratio allows for the personal attention and intimate atmosphere for which Sievers is known.
Ann told us that Walter used to say taking a class at Sievers was “doing something nice for yourself.” We couldn’t agree more.
Getting Hooked
It was time to get to work. Shawn took us through the various types of fibers—who knew there were so many?—and the most common uses of each, breaking down our intimidation as she broke down the terminology.
We got our crochet hooks out and Shawn worked the room, helping us master the simple, yet somehow elusive (for some of us, anyway) slip knot. By afternoon’s end, the four Knit-wits were contentedly chain stitching along while Shawn worked individually with a few of the more experienced students on their more complex projects.
With its secluded, woodsy location and intimate classroom layout, Sophie Studio, one of two art studios on the Sievers campus, feels a bit like summer camp for grown-ups.
Despite the variations in skill level and projects, the class quickly settled into easy companionship, with lots of laughter and words of encouragement.
At the end of the day, we all headed to K.K. Fiske’s restaurant together for supper, where we indulged in the kind of fish inland-living folks don’t typically get to savor. When your waitress tells you the white fish on the menu was caught that very morning from the restaurant’s own nets out back, you know you’re in for a special treat, and it was.
Fully satiated by the delicious meal and pleasant company with newfound friends, we made a quick stop at Mann’s Store, the only grocery store on the island, before heading back to our waterfront rental house. Mann’s Store has been operating continuously on the island since 1902 by three generations of the Mann family, including Orion Mann, president of WIEC’s board of directors.
We stopped to pick up a few provisions and headed to our house for the night, where we settled on the back deck facing Figenschau Bay, practicing our chain stitching and chatting until the sun went down over the water.
Riverland member weaves magic At Sievers School of Fiber Arts
“It doesn’t really feel like a job. It’s more like a treat.”
That’s how Susan Frame describes her time as a visiting instructor at Sievers School of Fiber Arts on Washington Island. Frame, an accomplished weaver who makes exquisite rugs, blankets, towels, and other items, travels to the island twice a year to teach weaving at the acclaimed school. Her home base is Osseo, on Riverland Energy Cooperative lines, where she lives with her husband, Dennis, who serves on Riverland Energy’s Board of Directors.
“My favorite thing to weave is any kind of gift,” she said. “I weave baby blankets; in fact, I’m weaving a baby blanket right now for our first grandchild, due in November, so I’m in full baby mode. When my son got married I wove six blankets for all the girls in the bridal party. I like to do stuff for people.”
Susan Frame and her husband, Dennis, a director on the Riverland Energy Cooperative board, prepare one of the five looms they currently have in their home. Frame has been weaving since she was a college student and is a regular guest instructor at Sievers School of Fiber Arts.
Uncle’s Inspiration
Frame’s love of weaving can be traced to an uncle who was a prolific weaver in the 1950s and 1960s. He died when she was a little girl, before she had a chance to learn the craft from him, but she had an opportunity to take a weaving class while she was in college studying horticulture.
“That’s where I learned to weave, but I was inspired by my uncle,” she said.
Frame continued both avenues of study, although weaving loomed larger: “Weaving is my passion; horticulture was just my job,” she said.
The projects above were created by students from a beginning weaving classes Frame teaches at Sievers.
She continued to hone her weaving skills over the years and took additional classes, including a few at Sievers. She branched into teaching about 30 years ago at the Fiber Garden in Black River Falls, on Jackson Electric Cooperative’s lines, where Fiber Garden owner Deb Jones hosts spinning and weaving classes. Frame teaches weaving at Fiber Garden two to six times a year.
When Sievers was seeking another weaving instructor in 2018, Jones recommended Frame for the job. She’s been teaching a couple of classes a year there ever since: a structured class for beginners, and another for “beyond beginners,” where students have more flexibility to branch off into different projects. Most of her students are women, but she has taught men as well, including one who sailed to the island with his wife and stayed on their vessel in the harbor during the evenings, bicycling into class each day.
Island Inspiration
Frame said the unique qualities of island life make for a special teaching and learning experience.
Pictured above are projects created by students in a “beyond beginners” class.
“I think it’s just the process of getting on the ferry, leaving the mainland and knowing you’re on an island,” she explained. “People have to make an effort to be there, so they’re very focused and intentional in what they’re doing. There’s not all that other ‘stuff’ going on around you.”
She also enjoys the special sense of community that develops among the students at Sievers. They may begin a class as strangers, but they never end it that way.
“It’s so interesting to see, over the course of a week, the camaraderie the students develop. You swear by the end of the week that they were all best friends,” Frame said.
The Sievers staff, Frame said, is also responsible for the welcoming atmosphere.
“They’re so accommodating and gracious to the people who come, whether you’re a teacher or a student, and you don’t find that all over,” she said. “They make you feel like you’re very important and they want you there, and they want your experience to be a success.”
Knitting Together
The next morning, we headed to Red Cup Coffee House for breakfast before returning to Sievers for a full day of class. We were proud to have Ann greet us with a just-arrived June issue of the Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News in hand, sporting a cover photo taken by the island’s own Katie Jagiello (although we learned that on Washington Island she is still Katie Mann). Katie is of Mann’s Store lineage, and she’s now communications/marketing specialist at Oconto Electric Cooperative in Oconto Falls.
Shawn began the morning by checking our crocheting progress and offering gentle corrections before moving on to knitting. We struggled a bit with the unfamiliar needles at first, and Shawn was busy circling the room as one Knit-wit after another called for help unraveling the latest error.
Students not only learn to handle a crochet hook and knitting needles, but also how to read a pattern.
By the afternoon, however, we had all finally managed to work past the initial cast-on row of stitches, producing a strip of what actually resembled knitting—a bit bumpy, perhaps, and with a few mysterious holes, but most definitely knitting. Shawn declared us ready to try the purl stitch and we worked on.
Once again, our fellow classmates—most of whom were already fairly confident with the basic stitches we were struggling with—offered constant encouragement, and Shawn again worked her magic attending to everyone’s individual needs.
At the end of the afternoon, our class was invited to walk over to Sievers’ second studio where an advanced quilting workshop was underway. Wandering through the spacious building, admiring the intricate works in progress and chatting with the artists who were creating them, was uplifting. We learned that some of these quilters return year after year to the same session for the opportunity to create in the company of fellow artists who had become good friends. They drew inspiration from each other; we drew inspiration from them.
Progress! Jen, Dana, and Wendy display the knitting they mastered by just the second day of class.
Lasting Impressions
On our final day, we rose early to enjoy the morning light over the bay one last time before heading back to Sievers for class. We spent most of our time practicing our own stitching in whatever form we preferred—crocheting or knitting—calling Shawn over for help when we inevitably got stuck. She taught us a few more skills, including how to read a pattern, and offered suggestions for resources and tools to help us continue our crocheting/knitting journey.
Five months, and many hours of practice later, various Knit-wits managed to produce some actual knitted products, including a hat, a scarf, and a lap blanket.
Our Sievers journey, however, was about much more than crocheting and knitting, although we certainly learned plenty of that. We also learned—or at least were reminded of—the joy of friendship, the comfort of community, the rejuvenating power of unplugging in a tranquil setting, and the satisfaction of learning something new.
That’s a yarn I’m going to try to keep spinning.—Mary Erickson
Sievers School of Fiber Arts is located at 986 Jackson Harbor Road, Washington Island, WI 54246. Registration opens February 1 for the upcoming season, which runs from May through October. Gift certificates are available. To learn more, visit sieversschool.com or call 920-847-2264. More photos from the Knit-wits’ Sievers journey can be found at wecnmagazine.com under Web Exclusive.